Every contractor is well aware of the need to improve health and safety but there is inconsistency across the industry in terms of how it is managed, so performance can differ greatly from firm to firm. As highlighted by Binyamin Ali in Construction News, these inconsistencies are being driven by various reasons including a lack support within the supply chain, confusion regarding who is responsible for health and safety and outdated attitudes in some of the smallest firms.
There is no silver bullet to resolve these issues, but a big part of the solution is for contractors to look closer to home and their company culture.
Health and safety performance can only improve if behaviours and attitudes change. Achieving this can take time and isn’t easy, but increasing staff engagement with health and safety procedures can make a measurable and positive difference. This begins with strong leadership and the effective communication of health and safety messages to all team members to drive safe behaviours and attitudes.
These messages need to filter through the entire supply chain and encourage shared ownership of the issue and collaboration, with everyone working towards a common goal. Investment is required too, giving people the training and responsibility to oversee health and safety and ensure performance is monitored.
At LST, we’ve taken this approach for many years but also recognise the need to continuously improve and ensure health and safety remains embedded in our culture.
That’s why we’ve worked with our staff to develop our Safety in Focusinitiative. This sets out our company-wide approach to managing health and safety and engages staff, subcontractors, partners and customers with our mission. Setting out our key messages, it underlines the fact that safety is our number one consideration in everything we do.
This initiative provides a tangible health and safety commitment enabling us to further enhance our safety culture and continue to create positive attitudes, a focus on learning, continuous improvement and a sense of responsibility across the firm.
Health and safety is an ever changing area, encompassing far more than just the physical side of our business. Processes, procedures and equipment will always play a part, but construction firms must focus on their culture if they want to see continuous improvement. In doing so, they can begin to change behaviours and encourage the collaboration that is urgently needed across our industry to drive positive change and raise standards.
Tim Woodcock is LST’s NEBOSH qualified Health and Safety Manager
